Supplementary written evidence from BBC
World Service
AUDIENCE DATA
FOR BBC ARABIC
TELEVISION
BBC World Service carried out an audience measurement
survey for BBC Arabic TV immediately after the launch of the channel
in March/April 2008. Countries covered included Iraq, Syria, Lebanon,
Egypt, Israel (Arabs only) and The Gulf (Saudi, Bahrain, Kuwait,
UAE and Qatar). This revealed an audience of 12 million weekly
viewers (25%). However, it was estimated that this figure settled
to 8 million in 2008-09 (1 million ahead of the target agreed
with the FCO) once the channel had had time to "bed-in",
and this is the figure that BBC World Service issues, as we believe
it gives a truer picture of the audience.
No further estimates of the audience figure have
been issued since the extension of the channel to 24 hours a day
(in January 2009). Now that the channel is established in the
audience's mind as a 24 hour news channel, further surveys are
taking place, the results of which will be reported in time for
the next global audience estimate in May 2010.
Our Arabic TV target for March 2011 is 25 million
weekly viewers, as part of an overall BBC multimedia reach in
Arabic of 35 million weekly users.
AUDIENCE DATA
FOR BBC PERSIAN
TV
Research is currently underway to provide a
measure of the audience to BBC Persian TV in Iran. The research
was delayed as the election unrest earlier this year made any
sort of effective research difficult. The results will be reported
in time for the next global audience estimate in May 2010.
However, there are regular comments on the channel
made by the authorities and in the press and in reports in the
public domain—even those critical of the BBC's intentions
say that the quality of the service is so high that the domestic
media need to do something to respond—Iranian channels need
to become more professional. We believe the audience figure for
the channel exceeds the three million figure discussed at the
Committee hearing, but stress that we have no research-based evidence
to back this up. User generated content and emails received continue
at a high level.
BBC World Service's target for the channel is
to reach at least eight million weekly viewers in Iran three years
after launch, as part of an overall BBC reach across television,
radio and online of 10 million weekly users.
We would also expect the channel to draw a significant
additional audience outside of Iran, and would aim to reach 3-4
million viewers in Afghanistan as well as amongst the Persian-speaking
diaspora in the Gulf and Europe. A survey is currently underway
in Afghanistan and reporting is due in time for the next global
audience estimate in May 2010.
One of the future strategy areas that we are
looking at is the possibility of providing some television programming
for Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as other countries, but
this is at the internal discussion stage only, and any such proposals
have to be seen within the context of the next SR and the limited
resources available.
THE USE
OF THE
LICENCE FEE
AND FCO GRANT-IN-AID
IN THE
DELIVERY OF
BBC SERVICES
The provision of services from BBC News (Licence
Fee Funded) to BBC World Service (FCO Grant-in-Aid funded), are
set out in a Service Level Agreement between the BBC and World
Service. This agreement sets out the rights, obligations and liabilities
of each party to the other so as to ensure that the licence fee
will not be used to support or subsidise World Service activities
and Grant-in-Aid will not be used to support or subsidise the
licence fee, thereby protecting the interests of the licence fee
payer. The agreement is negotiated between the BBC and World Service
each year.
The agreement follows the principles set out in the
BBC World Service Trading Protocols (WSTP), which form part of
the BBC's "Fair Trading Guidelines". The WSTP are not
contractual agreements, but a framework within which detailed
agreements/contracts can be agreed.
The key principles of the WSTP include:
— Fair prices should be charged for all
goods and services supplied by the BBC's licence fee funded groups
to World Service.
— Trading between the BBC's licence fee
funded groups and World Service must be transparent and established
on the basis of formal agreements.
The WSTP [and any agreements within their framework]
are subject to external audit each year. Each year the World Service
Annual Review contains a statement by the BBC Executive Board
on the WSTP and the external auditor's opinion (BBC World Service
AR 2008-09—see page 45, BBC Executive Board Report on
BBC World Service Trading Protocols).
REACH FIGURES
IN RUSSIA
The current estimate for BBC Russian throughout
Russia is 680,000 listeners. Given the problems we have with radio
distribution, it's hard to analyse the popularity of the content
in terms of pure radio. The last bespoke offline audience measurement
by BBC was conducted in 2007 (prior to the FM problems encountered)
and covered Moscow and St Petersburg, where weekly listening averaged
1.9%.
However, it's worth noting that recent official (non-BBC)
radio ratings in Moscow indicated BBC has retained this audience.
Ratings indicated the weekly audience for BBC radio in Russia
was 2.2% in June and 1.8% in July. This equates to around 200,000
listeners in Moscow a week (Source: Comcon Radio ratings 2009.
All aged 12+ in Moscow).
There is a substantial qualitative research
programme underway in Russia currently with results expected early
December. The aim of the research is to further understand the
audience and what barriers may exist for the service in Russia.
bbcrussian.com attracted 385,000 unique users
weekly in September 2009 and usage of the Russian mobile news
site was at 122,000 page impressions in September. This is despite
any formal mobile partnership.
There were more than 300,000 audio requests
on the Russian website in September (request for the live stream
representing about a sixth of this), and close to 700,000 video
requests in the same month.
BBC Russian is in advanced contractual negotiations
with tut.by, Belarus' leading online portal, for a video and text
partnership. In Russia, we are currently finalising multimedia
partnerships with gzt.ru, MSN and inosmi.ru.
BBC WORLD SERVICE'S
RESPONSE TO
THE CHANGES
TO THE
PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
BOARD
BBC World Service welcomes the arrangements
put in place by the FCO to replace the Public Diplomacy Board.
A BBC World Service representative regularly attends the Public
Diplomacy Partners Group. In addition, a BBC World Service representative
has been attending a monthly London Olympics 2012 meeting chaired
by the FCO. These meetings have proved to be a useful way of sharing
information relevant to strategic public diplomacy goals whilst
at the same time maintaining the BBC's editorial independence.
BBC World Service and the British Council continue to work together
where appropriate—a recent example being the British Council's
Darwin Now conference in Alexandria, Egypt, from which BBC World
Service organised and broadcast two debates and ran two media
workshops.
PROBLEMS IN
SRI LANKA
In February 2009, the BBC suspended FM programming
to the Sri Lankan national broadcaster SLBC after a number of
instances of interference with programmes and news reports in
English, Tamil and Sinhala.
Talks with SLBC's Chairman have gone on since that
time and by mid June formal resumption was again on the agenda.
A draft letter of variation to the main agreement was then prepared
and submitted in September. The BBC signed this, and it was then
vetted by the Attorney General's office in early October.
However, there was a last-minute blockage at
Ministry/Cabinet level, hence the incorrect statement in BBC World
Service's written evidence that programming had resumed. The willingness
is there from the SLBC Chairman, but this last hurdle was unexpected
given that the Minister had given a letter of no objection previously.
We are still waiting to hear when we can resume
our FM programming, and have written again formally to SLBC to
exert pressure. We are still optimistic that it will happen.
The High Commission in Colombo has been kept
informed of all twists and turns.
17 November 2009
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